Beautiful Things Come From Brokenness

Written with love by the adoptive mother

There was never any doubt in my mind that I would be an adoptive parent.
Diagnosed with a lesion in my brain at the age of 11, I have endured radiation treatments, surgeries, and suffered two devastating strokes resulting in permanent disability. Although the tumor was obliterated in 2008, and medically the doctors say I could indeed have my own children, the desire of my heart has always been adoption.

For years, God had been preparing me to raise a child that grew in my heart, not in my tummy. So when it came time for us to actually start a family, my husband and I began our homework.

Like many, we researched all of our options. International adoption. Private adoption. And finally, foster to adopt. After many informational meetings and lots of prayer, we felt called to adopt a child who lived locally, in our own backyard. A child who needed a home through foster care.

Our daughter was placed with us in November of 2015. She was four-years-old. The moment we met her, we knew that God created her for our family. She was actually born the same month and year that we started the adoption process back in June of 2011. Yes, it was a very long and difficult process and it took over four years, but she was absolutely worth waiting for.

I keep a prayer journal where every morning, I write letters to God. When we accepted the placement, yet hadn’t even met our daughter, I wrote:

Dear God, Please guide us as we embark on the great journey of becoming parents. Give us wisdom. Unite us as a couple so that we are always on the same page. Use us to provide structure and consistency in our daughter’s life. Let her know that she can trust us and that she can depend on us to always be there for her. Allow us to teach her what it means to be giving and kind. Use us to instill good morals and values. Please give her a heart for Jesus. Give her an overwhelming sense of peace when she meets us so that she knows that we are her family. Allow us to instantly fall in love. Use us to give her a life better than she ever could have dreamed of, hoped for, or even imagined. I pray for many blessings over our daughter. Give her a long and fruitful life, one that is dedicated to serving you.In Jesus name I pray, Amen

It has been incredible to see how that prayer continues to be answered each and every day. The moment we met her, she asked if I was her mommy. It was as if we were being reunited after a long break, and the love we immediately felt was unparalleled. My husband felt the same way.

We created a life book together and one of the pages talks about how she came to our family. There’s a place that asks who brought you. She wrote, “God.” It then asks how you felt. She wrote, “Happy. Love. Joy. Excited. Glad. Comfortable. Complete.”After eight months of being her foster parents, we finalized our adoption in July of 2016. The process was not easy by any means. The county was extremely difficult to work with and at times it seemed like an uphill battle. But the day that the adoption was finalized was the happiest day of our lives and a further testament that God had been in control all along.

For those who are considering adoption, we know that it can be overwhelming. But all the anxiety and the sleepless nights are so worth it. And now that we are an official family, there is a peace in our household that you can feel the instant you walk in the door.

Being a mom is one of the greatest joys of my life. I hope to teach my daughter that she can overcome anything. That she is strong, and regardless of what life has thrown her way, she can still become whatever she wants to be. She can do whatever it is she puts her mind to. I hope to be her role model. Someone who she can look up to and draw strength from. We all have hardships; yet we have to do the best we can with what God has given us. Through all of my struggles I have come to believe that everything happens for a reason, and that is the same belief I hope to instill in my daughter. That beautiful things come from brokenness.

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BraveLove

If you are considering adoption, you may want to visit BraveLove.org, where you can find information on adoption, as well as read interviews and watch videos about different women's adoption experiences.